Temple Of The Daleks
by darkestboy
Summary: The Doctor, Rose and Mickey end up in a pre-Time War Skaro. Set between The Girl In The Fireplace and Rise Of The Cybermen.


**Name:** Temple Of The Daleks  
**Characters: **10th Doctor, Rose Tyler, Mickey Smith, Daleks  
**Synopsis:** The Doctor, Rose and Mickey find themselves drawn to a distant planet where an old enemy is trying to build an army. The enemy remembers its last encounter with the Time Lord, only the Doctor doesn't because it hasn't happened to him yet. Set between _The Girl In The Fireplace_ and _Rise Of The Cybermen_. Also continues from _Prisoner Of The Daleks_ from Dalek X's perspective.

She said, "Godspeed, my lonely angel."

In her letter, she had said a lot of things. The Doctor was buried in his thoughts, thinking of his final meeting with Reinette. He had saved her from the Clockwork Droids but had been unable to save her from a human death.

_That's the way it should be. I don't have the right to play God_.

God. The word intrigued him. The Face Of Boe and Novice Hame had seen him as a lonely god, but as a Time Lord, the Doctor never considered himself to be such a thing. He flouted rules, rebelled when needed but also knew where to draw the line, when not to get involved and also when to let nature take it's course.

It didn't stop him from wanting to save her in the same way it didn't stop him from wanting to save him own race from extinction at the hands of the Daleks but he couldn't, he knew he shouldn't. He didn't have that right.

"You miss her, don't you?"

No longer was he alone in the TARDIS. He had expected the question to come from Rose but wasn't disappointed when he turned around and saw Mickey with a look of concern on his face.

"Yes," the Doctor said, putting the letter Reinette had written to him back in his pocket.

"You can't just go back and save her?" Mickey wondered. There were still a lot of things regarding time and space travel that he needed to brush up on.

"It's not that simple," the Doctor said. "There are some things that are fixed in time, unchangeable, no matter how much you might want them to be otherwise."

"Okay," Mickey said before deciding to change the subject. "So, where to now, boss?"

"Yeah, Doctor," Rose had stepped back into the console room with both men looking at her. "Where do we go now?"

The Doctor sucked in air and blew it out. He didn't know, hadn't thought of it. Still he needed to get out of this funk for his own sake more than anything else. Then he smiled goofily at his companions.

"Somewhere unexpected," the Doctor said, wistfully. "Somewhere wonderful and seeing as Mr Mickey's with us for the long haul, how about an alien planet?"

"I hear Woman Wept is pretty good," Mickey smiled, remembering that Rose had told him about it a while back.

"You'll love it," Rose smiled at him, before watching the Doctor fiddle with the console, setting co-ordinates to a location.

Moving out of his earshot, Rose turned to Mickey and asked. "Has he said anything else about Reinette?"

"Just that he can't change things, even if he wanted to," Mickey told her, also watching the Doctor.

Mickey thought the Doctor looked even more distant than usual. He realised even alien men had the same thing in common with the Earth variety by not discussing their feelings in depth.

"I guess there are some things that should be left unchanged," Rose mused as she went over to the Doctor. Mickey watched her forlornly, knowing the extent of her feelings for the Doctor.

"I guess so."

Dalek X stared, blinking in the darkness, wounded but not killed. It had managed to teleport itself out of Hurala and back to Skaro. It had taken a lot of strength and power to do it, nearly destroying itself in the process but it was determined not to die on a foreign planet of sorts.

It had remembered its last conversation with the malignant Time Lord. Oh it remembered alright. Every syllable in the most minute of agonising detail.

_"Doc-tor," it had gasped desperately. "Your failure to destroy me … will prove to be your downfall. I will hunt you down …!"_

"Yeah, well, good luck with that," the Time Lord had responded coldly. "Cos I'll be waiting."

Once his enemy had gotten inside the TARDIS, Dalek X could only watch as the Doctor disappeared. The Doctor did not fear it but he would and very soon.

On its home planet, Dalek X could wreck revenge on the Doctor. It could use the most advanced technology to draw the Time Lord to him, regardless of whether or not it would violate the laws of nature and time. Dalek X wanted the Doctor dead and it was going to achieve that, but not before turning him into a vegetable of sorts beforehand.

Time Lord knowledge would be vital. The Doctor had an alarming success rate with besting the Daleks and Dalek X wanted to know how he had been so fortuitous in defeating the Dalek race, time after time.

The Daleks needed to become the supreme beings. If the Doctor remained alive, this would not come to pass. The Doctor needed to die. His death would usher their ultimate victory.

Scurrying back to an underground laboratory that had once belonged to Davros, the creature had kept some of the surviving Kaleds under its command. They weren't pleased to serve the Dalek but they valued their lives too much to refuse it as well.

An ebony coloured woman named Bosra had been under Dalek X's thrall, bizarrely happy to obey the creature's commands, no matter how extreme they were. When other scientists protested, she would use bloodshed to keep them in line. If Dalek X could feel any pride in a creature other than a Dalek, then Bosra would be a recipient of that pride.

The woman sat at her controls. She had set her own frequencies, ones that could very much go beyond the realms of time and space. Her genius was bar none. Others resented it while Dalek X found it useful.

"Have you located the TARDIS?" Dalek X had asked, scurrying up to the woman. Her lack of fear intrigued the Dalek.

"All I have to do is press this switch and the Doctor will be here," Bosra smiled as she turned to face the Dalek. "Do I have that right?"

"This isn't about right," Dalek X squawked. "This is about survival. You will bring me the Doctor. He will face his Dalek masters and he will die."

Bosra looked for a second. She had her own reasons for wanting the Time Lord dead. Without thinking anymore on the subject, she hit the switch a little too fondly for her own good.

A beam radiated in space, ripping through time, through parallels before it found the Type 40 TARDIS it had been looking for, for the man it had been looking for. Once it found the TARDIS, it locked on tight, constricting the vessel.

Sparks flew and hummed inside the machine, jolting the Doctor's hands off the controls, sending both him and Mickey back to the ground with Rose following them almost a second later.

"What?" the Doctor looked baffled, annoyed as he found himself unable to touch the consoles without getting his hands fried in the process. He covered his mouth with a cloth so he couldn't inhale any more fumes.

"I'm not an expert but I think we've landed somewhere," Mickey said, coughing, getting some air back into him. "And I get the feeling it's not Woman Wept."

"Doctor?" Rose asked. "Where are we?"

"Only one way to find out," the Doctor said. Caution took over excitement for once. He had a bad feeling about this place, wherever it was. "Allonsy."

Once he had stepped out of the TARDIS, the Doctor had come to regret it. A bad feeling didn't cover what he now felt upon the surroundings that met him. What he felt was the kind of thing that would merit the reaction of the Cloister Bell, which almost instinctually went off as Rose and Mickey had stepped out of the TARDIS.

The planet they had landed on was war torn and ravaged. For the Doctor, this was a world he was too familiar with, a world that like his own should've been long gone if not by his hand, then as a result of the Time War.

The air was thick, dust blew in various directions and the quarry seemed endless. Mickey made a conscious effect to try and ignore the array of corpses he could see in the distance.

"Where are we?" Rose asked. By studying his face, she could tell this planet evoked memories for the Doctor and not good ones by the look of it.

"Skaro," the Doctor finally said as he turned to face his companions with a bigger look of sadness on his face. "We're on the Daleks home world."

As Rose and Mickey began to look as worried as the Doctor, the three of them were unaware that from afar, they were being watched. Bosra had sent an army to snare them. The humans would die but the Doctor would go through hell and back before getting the sweet release of death. If Dalek X didn't make sure of it, then she would.

"Did you just say what I think you said?" Rose asked, a sense of dread building in her voice.

She had had two encounters with the Daleks, both times resulting in death. The Time Vortex inside her had helped destroy the Emperor on the Gamestation all those months ago. Now she was on the planet where the creatures originated from.

The Doctor looked worried. Rose suspected that it wasn't just because he was on enemy territory.

"Doctor?" Mickey asked, noticing how distracted he had become. "Is this true?"

"It's impossible."

"Can't be if we're really here," Mickey rationed. "Why is it impossible?"

"Skaro, it burnt a long time ago," the Doctor murmured as he looked around, waiting for an attack, almost surprised that they hadn't been snatched or killed the second they had stepped out of the TARDIS. "I should know. We should leave and now."

As the Doctor attempted to head back to the TARDIS, a gunshot was fired. Mickey had pulled him back just before he could've been hit by the bullet. The three of them looked at the top of the rocky hills. Soldiers were out in force. One of them, completely masked called out to the three visitors.

"But you've only just got here, Doctor," the voice menaced at the Time Lord. "I think our Dalek masters would like a word or two with you."

"Don't feel like talking," the Doctor responded.

"No, I bet you don't," the masked soldier dripped sarcastically. "I think they'd prefer you screaming. Surrender now and I might spare your friends." The soldier aimed his gun at the Doctor's head from afar, prepared to shoot if necessary.

"I'm guessing we run?" Mickey asked, grabbing Rose's hand and bolting with the Doctor following them as shots were being fired.

"Yes!" Rose shouted.

As the three of them bolted as far as they could, the masked soldier watched them with amusement and annoyance. "Run all you like, fool," the soldier muttered. "You won't get far." Then he motioned to the squad of eight men he had brought with him. "Go after them. Remember, they want the Doctor alive."

As the men left, the masked soldier spoke in the intercom to a familiar voice.

"What's the hold up?" Bosra asked. "I sent you out an hour ago to get them. Even you should be capable of doing something as simple as a capture."

"They escaped," the soldier said. "They won't get far. My men will have them by sundown."

"They better," Bosra snapped a little, losing patience with him. "I don't care for his companions. Use them as target practice for all I care but if the Doctor is dead before he faces up to our masters, you'll be the next one in the scrap pile, are we clear?"

"Yes, ma'am."

Communication cut off, Bosra focused on her team of experts, in particular, Jenass, who looked more than a little studious.

"Have we found it?"

"The Temple?" Jenass asked. "That's what you pay me for. Oh wait, you don't."

"I think the fact I haven't killed you is payment enough," Bosra smirked, halting a further sarcastic remark from Jenass. "This is the part where you don't reply flippantly. Now, have we found it?"

"Yes, it's buried underground in an abandoned bunk on the outskirts, near the Thal domes."

"I suppose it wouldn't be fun if it was easy," Bosra resigned. "Tell me when Leighton gets back. I want to see that Doctor before the Daleks do."

"Will do, ma'am," Jenass said as she went back to her station.

Dalek X was watching the Doctor on the monitor in what appeared to be in fascination. Bosra smiled at the Dalek. It wanted the Doctor almost as much as dead as she did, though she doubted its motives were more justified.

"Why isn't the Doctor here?" Dalek X asked. It was more impatient than usual.

"Leighton's men will get him," Bosra assured him. "I've already sent a team to snatch the TARDIS, so that will limit any attempts to get off the planet. He'll be helpless without his precious ship."

"If he reaches the Thals," Dalek X began before being cut off mid-sentence.

"He won't." This time Bosra allowed her temper to seep through. "I'll tell Leighton to eliminate as many of those Thal scavengers as possible. Limit any allegiances the Doctor or his companions might think of striking up if the worst comes to the worst."

"I don't trust him," Dalek X said. This time, it wasn't referring to the Doctor and Bosra knew it. To an extent she agreed.

"He's helped us so far," Bosra pointed out. "And when he no longer provides a use for us, I'll kill him."

"And what of the Temple?"

"That's the interesting bit," Bosra hesitated as she wondered how she was going to explain that the very thing Dalek X would need for supremacy of his race was located in enemy territory.

It had grown dark and they had been running for hours. At some point, Rose and Mickey had managed to get themselves separated from the Doctor. The last time this sort of a thing had happened to Rose, it had been when the Doctor was his original self and she had been with Jack. She knew this didn't bode well.

"We'll find him," Mickey told her. "For all we know, he might have gotten back to the TARDIS."

"No, he won't have," a voice called from the bushes. It was female, with a bowl cut blonde hairdo, dressed in green and holding a gun. Rose and Mickey stepped back.

"I have no interest in hurting you," the woman assured, putting her gun down to shake hands with Mickey. "My name is Bethan. I know of your Doctor. I'm a Thal. We have a spy in the Kaled sanctuary. From what I've been able to gather so far, he has not been captured."

"Why should we believe you?" Rose asked.

"If I wanted you dead, I would've killed you both already," Bethan pointed out. "We need to go. The Kaled soldiers that have been following you weren't far behind me and chances are, they're probably heading in our direction as we speak."

Rose hesitated for a moment. The woman was confident, self-assured but she did seem to know a lot about the Doctor and judging how relaxed Mickey seemed to be around her, maybe she could be trusted. As options went, it seemed the best out of a limited bunch.

"Okay," Rose agreed, "but if you're -,"

"- I'm not," Bethan interrupted.

As the soldiers came across the bushes, the voices they had heard were gone. Leighton was annoyed. How could two humans so easily evade him? Neither of them looked that particularly bright.

The Doctor had been so distracted that he had almost forgotten that Rose and Mickey were no longer with him. Now, he was worried for their safety. Both of them weren't stupid but neither of them had ever been on this planet. The things the Doctor had seen on Skaro were unshakeable at times.

He had gone back to the area in small hope that his TARDIS might have still been there, that Rose and Mickey might have barricaded themselves inside for protection. Although not surprised, he still let out a sigh of disappointment when he realised that the TARDIS wasn't there.

_They've got me where they want me. Trapped like a cornered animal_.

"Maybe I should let myself be captured," the Doctor muttered to himself.

"I think that's the best thing you've probably said, Time Lord," Leighton had stepped into view, gun pointing at the prey he had snared after hours of running around in circles. "Bout time you came to your senses."

"Gonna tie me up then, bring me to your masters?" the Doctor snapped. "What exactly do the Daleks want with me?"

"All in good time, Doctor."

Leighton shot the Time Lord in the chest, only this time with a taser containing enough volts to knock out an elephant. For a minute he felt a flicker of pity for the Doctor before cuffing him and throwing him over his back. The humans would have to wait.

Bosra stormed back in the control room, where Dalek X turned to her. She smiled. Immediately, the creature recognised the reason behind her smile.

"He is here?" Dalek X asked, making sure that they were on the same page.

"Yes." Bosra smiled. "He's bound and gagged in the interrogation room. I'll send Valir to soften him up if you'd like."

"He must not die," Dalek X told her. "Yet."

"Why not?" Bosra asked. "I mean, he has useful information but that can be extracted with the mind probe in less than five minutes. Other than that, what use is he to any of us?"

"He must bear witness to our becoming. Our supremacy," Dalek X told her. "Only then, shall he breathe his last. The Daleks greatest enemy, no more."

"Fine." Bosra folded her arms in clear resentment. "I'll tell Valir not to get carried away."

With that, Bosra stormed out. Dalek X watched the camera that was in the interrogation. It was pleased to see the Doctor bound and helpless, unaware of what was going on.

Inside a grimy room, the Doctor had been cuffed to a chair. A thick cloth had kept him gagged while chains had been wrapped around his waist to keep him further tied to the chair.

A scarred young man, referred to as Valir had been watching him, analysing him. The Doctor knew what he was thinking. Then the woman known as Bosra came back into the room and slapped him hard across the face.

"You get to live for a little longer," she growled at the Time Lord. "Enjoy being a vegetable. Mind probe's in a half hour, Doctor."

"I guess I don't cut him up then?" Valir asked.

"I'll distract Dalek X for a bit," Bosra smiled at him, her arm touching his shoulder, in a way that indicated that they were lovers. "If the Doctor happened to get bled when 'trying' to escape, I would've been none the wiser and you were merely doing your job."

With that, Bosra left and Valir stepped a little closer to the Doctor, smiling as he brandished a knife, flicking it teasingly at the captive alien's throat. The Doctor whimpered through his gag.

"She's a peach, isn't she?" Valir smirked. "But I enjoy the whole torture and kill thing a little more than she allows me to."

The Doctor grunted a little, his assents muffled by the gag. Valir could only guess what his latest victim was trying to say.

"I'm going to kill you, Doctor. I'm going to cut you into bits and bury you where no-one will ever find you. Your last resting place will be on the planet of your greatest enemies. How is that for irony? Any last requests?"

The Doctor shuddered as Valir then slipped behind him, raising the knife in the air. It was going to descend. There was no way out for the Doctor, none that he could see. He would die at the hands of someone who enjoyed his job too much. Someone who wasn't an artificial or engineered life form. Someone under different circumstances he would've protected.

The knife lowered down but instead of cutting into him, the Doctor found that his bonds had been cut instead. Before he knew it, his gag was removed. Valir stared at him, the stoniness of his features softening. He even smiled at the Doctor kindly.

"I don't understand," the Doctor said confused. A minute ago it appeared this man was going to kill him. Now he was telling him to escape.

"I don't have time to explain but in a few minutes, I'm going to be found unconscious and you're going to have escaped from here to the Thal dome," Valir had smacked the handle of the knife into his face so harshly, it caused a bruise and a bloody nose as he fell to the floor.

The Doctor tried to come near him, to help him. Valir shoved him away.

"You need to go now," Valir grunted. "You don't have a lot of time. Bosra can only distract Dalek X for so long."

"Why are you doing this?"

"Go to the Thal domes," Valir said, as an order and not a request. "Find a woman called Bethan. She'll fill you in."

"What about my friends," the Doctor asked.

"Just go!"

This time Valir hissed at the Time Lord, annoyed. The Doctor gave one last look at the man and left. He was unconscious when that soldier had dragged him here. Getting out the place wasn't going to be easy.

Valir watched the Doctor before feigning unconsciousness. He needed to stay put for a while longer. Bethan was going to kill him for going back on his word. The deal had been to get relevant information and extract the Doctor if he had gotten captured as well as himself.

Valir needed to be here right now. Like many of his people, the Daleks had murdered those he loved. However there was one person that needed to pay for their crimes. Someone equally as dangerous as any Dalek.

"What relevance is this?" Dalek X squawked as Bosra had taken him on a tour of the labs as nervous scientists and technicians kept to themselves and worked through their fatigue, devoid of chatter.

"I just think that showing you how well things are progressing is beneficial to us both," Bosra lied, though not as coolly as she had hoped. With any luck, she had given Valir enough time to kill the wretched Time Lord.

She was also hoping that Valir was smart enough to make the killing look like an accident. If he wasn't, she'd have to hope that Dalek X would be quick enough to dispatch of him before being implicated in trying to kill the Doctor.

"The only thing that is relevant is gaining access to the Temple," Dalek X said. "As well as the death of the Doctor. I want to see him now."

Bosra hesitated, caught off guard by the request. Dalek X noticed that her heart was beating faster than usual.

"Is there a problem?" the Dalek had asked suspiciously.

"None at all," Bosra swallowed a whimper. "I'll escort you right now."

The Dalek's eyestalk blinked for a few moments, considering Bosra's behaviour. It was aware that she had a history with the Doctor. It was also aware that her emotions could possibly factor in acting rashly.

"Proceed," it finally said.

Bosra lead the way into a room where she heard a groan. Once inside, she cursed aloud with frustration.

"Damn it."

_He had escaped. This wasn't good. This wasn't good at all_.

Rose had sat impatiently, tapping the table nervously and looking around in anticipation. Ever since arriving in the grotty dome with it's smell of death and dishevelled new friends, she began to think of the Doctor more.

Mickey on the other hand had relaxed, eating a stew that didn't look dissimilar to any from Earth.

"This is really good," Mickey had said appreciatively between bites, smiling at Bethan with approval.

"Glad you like it," Bethan reciprocated the smile before returning to Rose. "You not hungry?"

"Sorry?"

Rose had been too consumed in her thoughts that she didn't realise that Bethan had come back.

"I said are you not hungry?" Bethan repeated.

"No," Rose said. "Anything?"

"We've looked," Bethan told her, knowing that she referring to the Doctor. "Our man on the inside was able to free him but we don't know if he's managed to get out of the Kaled dome, never mind the wastelands yet."

"Then we have to do something," Rose got up. The waiting was driving her nuts. She needed to do something.

"We are," Bethan said.

"Are we?" Mickey interrupted.

"By staying here?" Rose asked. "How is that doing something?"

"You've been with the Doctor for how long?" Bethan asked the both of them.

"Few days," Mickey said.

"Over a year," Rose sighed.

"Then you know he's resourceful," Bethan continued. "That he's smart, capable of getting out of anything."

"Yes," Rose said. "But I've already had two encounters with the Daleks and I know what they're like. They're not Slitheen or Gelth or Krillitane or anything else. They're a bigger threat to the Doctor. I've seen the kind of impact they've had on him. In the universe."

For a second Rose had considered telling Bethan about the Daleks and Time Lords and the Time War but knowing there was strict rules on time continuity and the like, Rose decided to edit that bit of information from her attempt to make a relevant point.

"Believe me I know," Bethan said empathetically. "And we're grateful to the Doctor, for any time he's ever helped us with dealing with the Daleks but Rose, we're the ones who have to live in fear of these creatures all the time because of their connections to this planet, to Skaro. You and Mickey and the Doctor can leave by TARDIS. We don't have that."

"So waiting is our only option?" Rose asked, almost knowing the response she was going to get.

"Until Valir can tell us exactly what the Daleks are up to," Bethan looked at the human girl. "It's our only choice."

Rose sighed again but said nothing more. For a while she'd wait it out, hope the Doctor was okay but she also knew that if they didn't do something soon, there would be a Dalek invasion at their door.

"What happened to you?" Bosra had asked, helping Valir to his feet. Valir could see that she was both furious and concerned. It intrigued him.

"Doctor," Valir mumbled, feigning disorientation. "Pulled some kind of device on me. Got free, then he attacked me. Tried stopping him. Wasn't fast enough to stop him. I'm sorry."

"You let him escape," Dalek X squawked, affronted.

"Let would indicate that I had a choice in the matter," Valir grunted at the creature, before pointing to his bruised face. "Does this look like I let him leave?"

"Now, now," Bosra looked at Valir warningly. She still needed him. "No-one's accusing anyone of letting the Doctor escape."

"The Doctor abhors violence," Dalek X stated in a matter of fact tone.

"Yeah," muttered Valir, before laughing weakly. "Funny how you might ignore an abhorrence when trying to escape. I guess the idea of a mind probe is more terrifying than my tool collection."

"Do you find this funny?" Dalek X asked, pointing his ray gun at Valir. "Because I do not find it funny at all."

"I never said that," Valir moved from the Dalek's aim, even though every time he moved, Dalek X pointed the ray gun in his direction.

"I'm sure what Valir was trying to say was that the Doctor clearly feared the hope of your imminent victory," Bosra appeased, falseness dripping from her voice.

"I do not trust this man," Dalek X said, focusing it's gaze on Valir.

"I really don't care," Valir said. Truth is, he really didn't. Dalek X was small fry compared to the person he wanted revenge on.

"Shut up," Bosra hissed angrily. "You're in enough trouble as it is. Clean this place up now."

"Yes, ma'am."

Bosra turned to Dalek X, getting back to the matter of the Doctor escaping. "He can't have gone far. I'll sound the guards. He won't even make it to the wastelands and if he does, he definitely won't make it to the Thals."

"Yeah, you're right about that one."

The voice was Leighton and with him was the Doctor gagged and bound once more. Leighton had a vice like grip around his neck.

"Doctor," Dalek X squawked, barely resisting the urge to shoot his greatest enemy on sight.

"Isn't this an interesting turn of events?" Valir muttered dryly while giving the Doctor a look of empathy that went unnoticed by the rest of them. "You actually doing your job for once."

"At least I wasn't the idiot who nearly lost him," Leighton threw back. "I can't believe a strong man like you got overpowered by this streak of nothing."

"It is suspect," Dalek X acknowledged. It could tell that Valir wasn't being truthful but didn't have enough to go on. For now.

"Again, not my fault," Valir protested before trying to appease to the Dalek. "You know how deceptive the Doctor is. You've said so yourself."

Valir then walked alongside the Doctor, grabbing his tie. Looking at the Time Lord, trying to tell with his facial expressions that he'll try to find another way to get him out. If he could, the Doctor would've returned a smile or a nod or even a wink but right now, he needed Dalek X, Leighton and Bosra to believe that Valir was one of them.

The Doctor had sort of worked it out while he was dashing for his life in the hallways. Valir had to have been an agent for the Thals. They must have expected his arrival on Skaro as well as Dalek X and even though he was in captivity, being within the clutches of the Dalek might be his only way of stopping it. First however, he needed to figure out what it wanted in the first place. The Doctor dreaded to think.

"Throw him in the cells," Dalek X instructed Leighton before gazing at the Doctor, eliciting some trace of glee. "I will enjoy extracting information from you."

"Buy me a drink first," the Doctor muffled as Leighton punched him in the shoulder and dragged him out.

Dalek X then took his leave as Bosra turned to Valir and said, "Clean this place up."

"Heard you the first time," Valir muttered to the woman.

With the door closed, Valir took out his comms, making sure that he was alone and unlikely to be interrupted.

"It's me," he said grimly to the man on the other end. "Tell Bethan I'm gonna need more time. The Doctor, he didn't make it out of the dome. I'm gonna have to resort to other measures. Either way, you need to protect it. I think they've figured it out."

Hanging up, Valir began to tidy his tools, before focusing on one in particular. It would come in handy for the distraction he was going to have to create.

Bethan was sitting down with Rose and Mickey when Oscar had come over to her. She could tell the news wasn't going to be good.

"It's the Doctor," Oscar began. "I just received intelligence from Valir. He didn't make it out of the dome. There was a complication."

"Is he alright?" Rose asked.

"He was caught by one of the guards as far as I could tell. Valir didn't have time to tell me everything."

"Do they know?" Bethan asked. "About the Temple?"

"What Temple?" Mickey asked, his curiosity piqued. Bethan ignored the question, though not out of spite.

"It would seem so, ma'am."

"Then we must prepare," Bethan said, her voice taking an authorative stance. "Prepare your men. I have a feeling we're going to have some uninvited guests in the next few hours. Get Rose and Mickey some weaponry as well."

"I'm not into guns," Rose protested.

"I'll take anything," Mickey said as Rose gave him a look. "I'd rather we had something to fight with than with nothing. We're no good to the Doctor if we're dead on this planet."

"He has a point, Rose," Bethan said as she looked in a trunk and produced a gun. "Believe the Daleks won't hesitate to kill us in cold blood. I don't see why we should be reluctant in defending ourselves."

Rose sighed for a second before conceding that Bethan had a point as did Mickey. The Daleks were dangerous and if they were coming to the Thal dome, then it was best to be prepared for anything.

"You still haven't told us about the Temple," Rose said, remembering that Bethan had ignored Mickey's previous question. "What do the Daleks want with it?"

"Now there's an interesting question," Bethan murmured as she prepared to answer it. She realised that there was no point in holding back any information from the Doctor's companions. After all, they were her allies now.

The Doctor pulled on his shackles in the damp dungeon he had been left in. His gag had been removed but there was no-one to speak to. Even the rats were too busy scurrying around to pass him the time of day.

Due to the way he had been strung up, he also knew that there was no way in which he could try and get his sonic screwdriver to free himself. Bosra had been more than happy to point out that he was due a nice shock with the mind probe in another half an hour. From what he could gather, Bosra was behind schedule and the Dalek in charge wasn't pleased.

When he had faced the Dalek, the Doctor couldn't help but notice how it had looked at him differently. All Daleks naturally hated him on sight but the Doctor couldn't help but think that this Dalek hated him a little more. That in some way that they may have met and the Doctor had bested him.

The Doctor took a short intake of breath before realising that his cell door had been opened. Standing at the door was Bosra with a taser.

"This doesn't look good," the Doctor said, trying to keep an air of cool and mystery about him.

"It's really not," Bosra replied coolly, only unlike the Doctor, her response was sincere.

"You don't have to do this, you know," the Doctor said, tugging on his restraints. "I can help you. If that Dalek is making you do this, I can stop it. All you need to do is trust me."

"Trust you?" Bosra laughed, an edge of disgust in her tone. "You really are stupid, aren't you, Doctor?"

"Why do you say that?"

"You don't know who I am, do you?" Bosra wondered. She never considered that he could be so ignorant.

"Should I?"

"Does the name Nyder ring any bells?" Bosra asked, this time with pain in her eyes.

The Doctor looked at her, unsure of what to say. Bosra went over and used the taser on his chest, giving both his hearts a stinging jolt, causing him to shriek and gasp. Due to his restraints, he didn't have the advantage of doubling over in pain.

"I don't understand," the Doctor gasped. "What does Nyder have to do with anything?"

"He was my father," Bosra yelled.

"I'm sorry."

"You killed him," Bosra yelled at him.

"I didn't," the Doctor clenched through his teeth as Bosra used the taser on him again.

"Liar!"

"I'm telling the truth," the Doctor protested as his wrists were bleeding a little from the shackles. "I did not kill Nyder. I wouldn't."

"I heard your lot can regenerate, Time Lords," Bosra said in disgust, obviously not believing the Doctor's pleas of innocence. "A way of evading death. Neat. It makes me wonder. If I keep frying you, will I get an incarnation of you that is actually capable of telling me the truth or are all Doctors just plain liars and cowards, through and through?"

"I am telling you the truth," the Doctor said.

"Try again," Bosra said and with that, she continued to electrocute him, smiling as she did it. She'd get a confession out of him one way or another and would enjoy watching as the mind probe reduced him to a vegetable.

By a large wall, Valir looked at the mind probe. A bowl like metal object hung from the ceiling and went on a victim's head with a vice like grip while the wall would spew out arm, body and ankle restraints, rendering any unfortunate victim immobile. Valir needed to act fast.

"What are you doing here?" Leighton asked, interrupting and startling Valir.

"I needed some air," Valir said dryly.

"Then go outside," Leighton threw back, watching Valir with interest. "That's what anyone else would do."

"I meant air without the smell of death," Valir replied tartly, not looking at the man, though from the corner of his eye, he knew that Leighton was near the controls of the mind probe.

"I thought you'd be comfortable with death," Leighton mused. "As a soldier, I've had to be. I think in your line of work, you'd be too."

"I torture people," Valir reminded him. "I don't kill them. Unless I have to. Unless they deserve it."

"Do you think the Doctor deserves it?" Leighton asked. "You know both Bosra and Dalek X really hate him, don't you?"

"Yes," Valir said. "And yes, he deserves it but not by my hand."

"So that's how he got away from you?"

"Huh?"

"Because you were soft," Leighton pointed out in a patronising manner. "Because you felt it wasn't your place to kill him. It's a good job I caught him then."

"I'm surprised you didn't snap his neck when you had the chance," Valir smiled at Leighton. He knew it unnerved Leighton when people smiled at him. "Given your ease with death."

"Well, it's like you say, it's about place," Leighton grimaced. "Wasn't mine to kill him. I guess you and I have something in common."

"Guess so," Valir frowned as he watched Leighton leave. "Rodent."

Checking out the door to see that Leighton had gone, Valir went to the controls of the mind probe. What no one else had known about him was that he was good with computers, exceedingly good. By the time he'd be done with this machine, they're would be a blackout, giving both him and the Doctor enough time to leg it. All he had to was use his little gizmo and the controls would be rendered immobile.

The Doctor whimpered, slumped in his chains looking at Bosra tiredly. She too had tired of shocking him. Before she could make another attempt, Dalek X had strolled in the room with Leighton at his side.

"What is the meaning of this?" the Dalek squawked, demanding an answer.

"We heard shocks, ma'am and screams," Leighton piped in quickly.

"I wanted answers," Bosra snarled in disgust. "He refused to comply. I only did what I had to."

"This is irrelevant to the mission," Dalek X dismissed her. "Your torture will cease now."

"I never thought I'd live to hear a Dalek ordering someone not to torture me," the Doctor panted, suddenly feeling dehydrated but it didn't stop him from being glib. "I guess you must really like me."

"Silence, Doctor," the Dalek barked. "You are not meant for this world any longer. The mind probe is ready."

Leighton went to unshackle the Doctor, then bound his hands in front of him with some rope. Once again, he held a firm grip on the Time Lord's neck as he dragged him out of the cell.

Before he knew it, the Doctor was thrown against a wall. Before he could massage his wrists, restraints from the wall snaked around his wrists, upper body and ankles. The bowl like object was clamped tightly to his head.

"Before you decide to suck me dry," the Doctor struggled, despite feeling woozy from the shock treatment he had been receiving from Bosra only minutes ago. "I'd really like to know what the big plan is."

"You are stalling," Dalek X hissed angrily. "It will not work."

"We know each other, don't we?" the Doctor asked. The way the Dalek withdrew confirmed his suspicions. "Surely you can tell me. Satisfy my curiosity."

"In a few minutes, Doctor, everything you know will be mine," the Dalek told him. "And you will know nothing no more."

The Doctor was beginning to dread what he knew was going to happen to him next. He could feel his body even tensing a little at the very idea of it. He had been strapped down to many tables or walls plenty of times in various incarnations by various enemies. It never led to anything good.

It also didn't help that the looks on both Bosra and Leighton's faces were of glee. The Doctor could understand Bosra, with her being convinced that he was involved in Nyder's death but he didn't understand Leighton, even if he did look like an atypical bloodthirsty soldier.

The only person who was missing from the room was Valir. The Doctor wondered what had happened to him. Maybe he had been caught. The Doctor hoped not.

"Any last words?" Bosra smiled at the Time Lord maliciously.

"No."

"Then goodbye, Doctor," Bosra smiled, pulling the lever, knowing that she was damning him.

The Doctor tried to mentally prepare himself for the cascade of pain that his body and mind was going to be subjected to. It then came as a surprise when instead of a series of deadly jolts, the fuses blew and everything went to black.

"What the blazes?"

Then he could hear someone coming to his aid, pushing through Bosra and Leighton. It was Valir.

In the midst of the ensuing confusion, one thing had become clear to the Doctor — he was free. Valir had shot at the vice like clamp on his head and restraints with ease, freeing him from the wall.

"You can thank me later," Valir said, grabbing the Doctor and pushing him towards the door.

"I knew you'd betray us," Leighton growled huffily, pushing a disoriented Bosra out of the way to get a clear shot at both Valir and the Doctor. He missed. Both of them got outside of the door, avoiding the bullet.

"Exterminate," Dalek X shrieked angrily. "Halt, Doctor."

"No!" shrieked a shocked Leighton. He had been hit instead of the Doctor or Valir. The Doctor used his sonic screwdriver to seal Dalek X and Bosra inside the examination room.

"Damn it," Bosra cursed angrily hitting her fist off the door in seething resentment.

Outside both the Doctor and Valir caught their breath. They survived Dalek X but they still had to get out of the building. Valir then looked at the Doctor.

"We have to get out of here now," the Doctor said in a matter of fact way. "Where are the exits?"

"This way," Valir said as the both of them ran, knowing that within the next second, either Bosra or Dalek X would bust through the doors.

"I said halt," Dalek X screeched. "You will not escape this time, Doctor. You are a prisoner of the Daleks."

Dalek X shot, narrowly missing them. Bosra yelled furiously at her men to get after the Doctor.

"I want them both found," she barked the order. "They must not make it to the city."

Fortunately, the soldiers hadn't been as quick as Bosra had hoped that they would've been. Both the Doctor and Valir made it out of the Kaled dome and were now in the wastelands.

"I think we lost them," Valir panted, catching his breath as he turned to the Doctor. "Are you okay?"

"I am, thanks to you," the Doctor said. "I know this is probably not the best time to ask, what with us still having to run for lives and get to the Thal domes but -,"

"—What do the Daleks want and why are they after you?" Valir cut him off. "Both excellent questions. I assume you don't really need help with the latter but for the former, well, it's the Temple."

"What's the Temple?" the Doctor asked. The name rang no bells for him.

"We don't know," Valir said. "It's practically entombed underneath the Thal dome and all we do know is that the Daleks want it and if they want it, it can't be good. For a while, we've been spying on them."

"You've been spying on them," the Doctor said softly. "All this time, they didn't know or suspect. I'm impressed."

"I think Leighton had his suspicions," Valir smiled. "Same way Bethan suspected that you'd show your face if the Daleks ever got close to knowing that we had the Temple. Though you're a lot younger than she said you would be."

"Regeneration," the Doctor told him. "Time Lord way of cheating death."

"That might come in handy," Valir mused. "Because my guess is that Bosra and the Dalek are heading to our dome as we speak."

"It's time," Bosra said to her soldiers and scientists, each of them standing there with a look of confusion on their faces. Dalek X blinking behind her didn't instil much confidence in all of them either.

"What's time?" Jenass had asked, before realising. "We're going for the Temple, aren't we?"

Bosra said nothing. Jenass was afraid. All this time, she had been secretly hoping that their research had been for nothing, that the Temple was nothing more than a myth. Now that it had been discovered that it wasn't and that it was located at the Thal dome, she was afraid of what was going to happen next.

"Something on your mind?" Bosra asked, noticing the unease coming from the girl.

"I can't do this," Jenass mumbled before looking at the soldiers, the scientists and then Bosra desperately. "We shouldn't do this."

"What is the meaning of this?" Dalek X squawked, huffily and affronted by the woman's outburst.

"Can't you see what'll happen?" Jenass pleaded with her comrades. "If we give that thing what it wants."

"You are making a scene," Bosra snapped. "I'd advice you to stop now if you value your life."

"No, I will not stop," Jenass yelled at her, the very anger taking everyone, except Dalek X by surprise. "For months I have watched you serve that thing without question. For months I've seen so many of our scientists and soldiers killed by that thing and you expect us to blithely lead it to our destruction, I don't think so."

"What are you doing?" Bosra asked, before she saw Jenass pulling a gun from her coat pocket. "Put that thing down this instant."

"I'm ending this now," Jenass said angrily, before turning the trigger on the Dalek. "Starting with you, filth."

"Jenass, don't," an older man, a scientist pleaded with her as another scientist held him back.

"Exterminate," Dalek X screeched. Jenass didn't have time to pull the trigger. She let out a blood curling before slumping to the cold floor.

"Treachery is not tolerated," Dalek X spoke to the shocked crowd. "We leave now. You will kill the Thals anyone else in the dome but spare me the Doctor. He will not evade me again. He may be useful."

"Music to my ears," Bosra smiled as she ushered the bemused scientists and soldiers out of the room. "You heard Dalek X, now let's move."

The soldiers said nothing, keeping their hands firmly on their guns as the scientists kept their heads low and thought about what Jenass had said prior to her death. As soon as Dalek X got what it wanted, they'd be no use to it anymore. Not only were they going to a rival camp where they'd have to kill their opponents but they were also being led to their own deaths. The fact that Bosra couldn't even look at them was confirmation enough.

The Doctor looked around the Thal dome. By the skin of their teeth, both him and Valir had managed to make it out of the wastelands and to the dome. The fact that the Kaled soldiers had seemingly retreated might have helped them.

"I like what you've done with the place," the Doctor smiled as he entered the same room where Rose, Mickey and Bethan had been in.

"Doctor," Rose immediately went to him and gave him the mother of all hugs. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah," the Doctor smiled at her and then smiled at Mickey before looking in Bethan's direction. "I have you to thank for that."

The Doctor managed to prise Rose off him and went over to shake the young woman's hand. "How did you know I was going to be here?"

"Insight," Bethan smiled, giving him a knowing wink.

"Low level telepathy," the Doctor smiled at her approvingly, before spotting the blueprints on the table. "So, what do we have here then?"

"Blueprints," Bethan said, coming behind him. "We've managed to locate the Temple."

"Nasty looking thing," Mickey said, then taking everyone's looks into account. "Sorry."

"Don't be," Valir said, taking the young man's hand to shake after he shook Rose's hand beforehand. "It does look nasty. Usually that's something I can forgive."

"How progressive of you," the Doctor smiled. Rose smiled as well. "But it's not about looks is it? Tons of things may look unattractive but deep down, have a little beauty in them."

"Or are harmless," Rose offered as herself, Mickey and Valir took a look at the blueprints and design of the Temple. "I mean, I've seen plenty of things that were kind of sweet. Mox of Balhoon, Face Of Boe."

"Aren't we going a little off-topic here?" Bethan asked, trying to get back to the matter at hand.

"Yes," the Doctor said, a little embarrassed. "What I was trying to say is that while sometimes looks are deceiving, other times, they're not. Valir's filled me in on this Temple and my guess is that, if the Daleks want it, it's unlikely to be of sentimental value and seeing as Bosra and that Dalek, who really didn't like the look of me are on their way, my guess is that we should probably get to that thing before they do."

"Well that part we can do, without a problem," Bethan said. "We've tunnelled perfect through to the location of the Temple. Our only problem would be destroying the wretched thing."

"Can't do that from here," Mickey said. "If we're gonna destroy this thing, we should see it."

"Atta, boy, Mickety, Mick -," the Doctor said, a little too cheekily as Mickey gave him a withering look. "Sorry. But we should see this thing before Bosra and her team descend."

"Little too late for that, I'm afraid," called a familiar voice from the shadows.

"Bosra."

"Oh but I do agree, Doctor, we really should see this thing before my Dalek master gets here. I'm curious to know about it myself," Bosra smiled, stepping out of the shadows. In the time they had been making plans, talking, none of them had noticed that they were being sneaked up on.

"After you of course," Bosra smiled, pointing a gun at the Doctor's head. "And don't try anything stupid, unless you really do want to die quicker than you're going to, Time Lord."

With an army of ten strong soldiers, all pointing their guns and the sounds of Thals being killed by Dalek X not far away from them, the Doctor, Rose, Mickey, Valir and Bethan had no choice but to surrender and to lead Bosra to the Temple.

The Doctor and his companions had been held back by Bosra as they went underground to locate the Temple. Upon arrival, Bosra looked at the thing with disdain.

"It doesn't look very impressive, does it, Doctor?" Bosra smiled at the Time Lord with icy contempt.

"Do you really want my opinion?" the Doctor asked her flippantly, while being held tightly back by the soldiers.

"Actually I want to hear you scream but my Dalek master apparently needs you alive for a bit longer," Bosra said before looking at Valir. "As for you, I thought we had something."

"We did," Valir said dryly. "You want power and I want you dead. Opposing desires maybe."

"What did I ever do to you?" Bosra asked, sounding a little hurt before her stance hardened.

"You killed my family," Valir told her simply. "Ten years ago, you and your lunatic soldiers made me an orphan in this never ending Kaled-Thal feud."

"And you thought you'd get close, to what, kill me?" Bosra smiled seductively at the man. "I'd say better luck next time but apart from the Doctor, the rest of you are little more than target practice."

"So you keep saying," Rose said, struggling to get free from the soldiers holding on to her.

"Latest travelling companions?" Bosra asked the Doctor as she gave both Rose and Mickey a look of disdain. "Their deaths are on you."

"Not if we get out of here first," Mickey said, unable to free himself.

"Where is your Dalek master?" the Doctor said, still held back but keeping his voice neutral. "Because I'm still interested in what you think this Temple is going to achieve. Why would one Dalek need it? What does it do?"

"It will make the Daleks swell in numbers," Dalek X squawked as it came into the light. The Doctor began to struggle again, looking at his enemy.

"No way," the Doctor said, looking at the Temple as it dawned on him. The patterns, the shape of the thing. It made sense. "Why didn't I see it before?"

"See what?" Mickey asked.

"It's a pro-generation machine."

"What's a pro-generation machine?" Rose asked.

"It's a cloning device," the Doctor said, alarmed at the prospect. "This thing could make thousands of Daleks at the drop of a hat."

"Try millions, Doctor," Dalek X blinked as it pointed its ray gun at the Doctor's chest. It could detect the Doctor's heartbeats rising.

"It's the most sophisticated pro-generation machine in the universe," Bethan said. "You could make millions of anything within minutes."

"So, how comes none of you have used it then?" Mickey asked.

"We couldn't," Valir spoke up, his voice saddened. "Every time we tried to touch that thing, it rejected us. None of us have been able to touch it. And besides, it clones, it doesn't make new people."

"Which is why you want it so much," the Doctor spoke to the Dalek. "Just one go and you could have an army that would devastate entire constellations. The universe itself would be ripped apart by that many Daleks."

"Exactly, Doctor," Dalek X blinked. "And do you know what's interesting?"

"What?"

"You're going to help the Dalek cause," Dalek X blinked. "You're going to help us swell in numbers."

"No, I'm not," the Doctor said defiantly. "Remember, I'm your greatest enemy. The bane of your species very existence and if there's one thing, I don't do, it's -"

Before he could finish the sentence, the Doctor was gagged again by one of the soldiers holding him firm. The Doctor began to look more worried as they began to drag him.

"Speech is unnecessary, Doctor," Dalek X said as it then instructed the soldiers. "Tie him to the Temple."

"Let him go," Rose protested, trying to get free before Bosra smacked her across the head, stunning her for a minute.

The Doctor kicked out and struggled for freedom as best he could but within seconds, he found himself shackled to the machine.

"You may have evaded the mind probe," Dalek X trilled. "But your death will usher in a new Dalek Empire. The Temple works to raise a race from extinction if the race's greatest enemy is bound to the machine and then sacrificed through death. As you've said, Doctor, you are our greatest enemy. It is only fitting that it is you who brings us to our glory. I am certain the Time Lords will be very proud of you."

The last remark had to have been sarcasm. Even if this was a time before both Dalek and Time Lords perished in the Time War, the words had stung the Doctor. If this Dalek was successful, he'd be damning his own race and the universe once again. He couldn't let that happen. Not again.

"Enjoy the show," Bosra dripped icily as she began to pull the lever. Lights began to flash, stinging the Doctor as he struggled for freedom.

"The Daleks will reign supreme," Dalek X said before pointing its gun to the struggling Time Lord. "Exterminate."

With Rose, Mickey, Bethan and Valir all struggling to get free, Bosra looked on approvingly as the Doctor would finally meet his maker. They struggled frantically, not just for the Time Lord but also for themselves. Finally one of them managed to get free. It was Bethan.

"I don't think so," Bethan said determinedly as she threw herself towards the Dalek.

"Bethan, no," came a muffled cry from the Doctor, struggling to free himself to save her in time.

"Exterminate!"

It was too late. Bethan had managed to push the Dalek out of the way but it ended up costing her own life. Using the distraction, Rose, Mickey and Valir both fought harder and managed to break free from the soldiers grip on them.

Help had also arrived as some of the few Thals that had not managed to be killed during Dalek X and Bosra's break in had now stormed the underground base, fighting with the soldiers and eventually beating them as well causing more distraction, much to Bosra and Dalek X's consternation.

"Stop them, you idiots," was all Bosra could say before being shot in the chest by Valir. She looked at him with sadness as she slumped to the floor.

"That's for my parents," Valir told her icily as he went to switch off the controls, as Mickey and Rose worked to free the Doctor.

Doing some of his own jiggery poking, Valir had managed to destroy the controls, rendering the Temple to be unusable.

"Thanks," the Doctor gasped as Mickey removed his gag. The Doctor rubbed his wrists but Dalek X had turned around on him, pointing its gun in anger at them all.

"You won't make a mockery of the Daleks again," Dalek X said.

"It's over," the Doctor said. "Your machine's dead. You've lost. Can't you just surrender for once?"

"And have you defeat me once more?" Dalek X said.

"We know each other," the Doctor said, having his previous suspicions confirmed. "How do we know each other?"

"This is not the end, Time Lord," Dalek X vowed. "I will destroy you. Emergency temporal shift."

Before Valir or anyone could shoot at it, Dalek X had disappeared yet again. It had been the second time within months that it had used this method of escape. Its plan to make the Doctor pay for the indignity of their previous encounter had failed. It would have to wait for another opportunity to best the Time Lord.

"What do we do now?" Mickey said, looking around as Kaleds were either killed or restrained by the Thals in the base.

"We leave," the Doctor said. "This isn't our time. We should've never been here. I'm sorry Valir but we have to go."

The Doctor didn't give Valir time to ask for an explanation. He began to stride out of the base with Rose and Mickey closely following him.

It had been a while before they found the TARDIS but after evading bullets from other Kaled soldiers, they got out of Skaro. The Doctor had set the co-ordinates, keeping his gaze firmly on the monitor. While Mickey had taken to changing to his clothes, Rose came up behind the Doctor.

"It's not you to leave so fast," Rose said. "Something you want to tell me?"

"We couldn't stay," the Doctor said firmly. "Rules of time and all that."

"I know but weren't you, a little?" Rose asked curiously. "You were in a time where your own people were still alive. Weren't you tempted to change history, even for a second?"

"Yes," the Doctor. "But with the Dalek, I didn't have time to act on that impulse and even if I did, I couldn't, shouldn't. I don't have that right. Some things cannot be changed, no matter how much you might want them to."

He let out a sigh of despair. Rose put her arm over him and briefly hugged him as she looked at the monitor with him. Neither of them said anything for a few moments, basking in silence.

"So where to now?" Rose said, breaking the silence.

"Onwards and upwards," the Doctor smiled, slamming on the controls. After the last couple of hours, he could do with something light hearted. He knew just the perfect place to go to as well.

- The End -


End file.
